Welcome,
And I hope that each one of you will come to find peace within yourself.
Today I'm starting a series of sessions that are geared towards people who are interested in meditation,
But they can be for anyone.
Many people who are curious about meditation just don't know where to look for information,
And a site like Insight Timer can be overwhelming.
So I want to do this series and see if I can't help clear things up just a little.
So what is meditation?
Meditation is a practice that involves focusing your mind,
And you do that by using a combination of mental and physical techniques.
Meditation is a powerful tool that enhances your well-being and helps to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state.
Meditation trains your attention and your awareness,
And you can use various techniques such as mindfulness,
Which is focusing on the present moment,
Mantras,
Or visualizations.
One of the common goals of meditation is to curb reactivity and negative thoughts and feelings.
Even brief meditation sessions can increase relaxation and reduce anxiety and depression.
Now there are several types of meditation,
And often these are grouped together and used in conjunction with each other.
There's mindfulness meditation,
Which originally sprang from the teachings of the Buddha.
This is the most popular and most researched form of meditation in the Western world.
In mindfulness meditation,
You pay attention to your thoughts as they pass through your mind without judgment or involvement.
It combines concentration with awareness,
Often focusing on an object or the breath.
This is a great style of meditation for beginners,
And it can be practiced alone.
Another type of meditation is spiritual meditation.
This is a type of meditation that's often practiced by religious orders or different spiritual traditions.
Diverse techniques exist,
Reflecting the world's spiritual diversity.
And spiritual meditation aims to connect with a higher power,
Or with the inner self.
Then there's also focus meditation,
Which includes practices like body scan,
Where you visualize each part of your body and look for areas of tension.
This is also a reflective meditation,
Where you can develop some discipline in your thinking.
This is used to enhance your focus,
To manage pain,
And to relieve discomfort.
Another type of meditation is movement meditation,
Which involves mindful movement,
Such as walking or yoga.
This combines physical activity with the meditative process.
We can also talk about mantra meditation,
Where the practitioner repeats a specific word or phrase,
The mantra,
To focus the mind.
It's very common in Buddhist and Hindu traditions,
And it often helps beginners with their focus,
Because while you're focusing on repeating the word,
You aren't thinking.
There's also transcendental meditation,
Which became very popular in 1968,
When the Beatles went to India.
They went there to study with the Maharishi.
And transcendental meditation involves silently repeating a specific mantra.
And people who practice transcendental meditation have reduced stress and improved well-being.
There's also loving-kindness meditation,
Which is also called metta.
Metta meditation,
Or cultivation of the metta,
Is a popular Buddhist form of meditation.
This cultivates feeling of compassion and love towards oneself and others.
This is often practiced through affirmations or visualizations.
And lastly,
We have visualization meditation,
Where we use mental imagery to create a peaceful,
Positive experience.
This kind can involve imagining serene landscapes or healing scenarios.
A good example is many sleep meditations.
Now you have to remember that there's no one-size-fits-all approach with meditation.
You have to choose a meditation style that resonates with you and feels comfortable to you.
You often hear me say that this is your time and your meditation.
And you need to remember that.
Many teachers combine parts of different meditation types or styles into one lesson.
For example,
My meditations often combine a bit of mindfulness with some body scan and a little visualization and some metta,
Or living-kindness.
Close your eyes now,
And let's spend a little time getting in touch with our breath.
Just breathe normally.
You aren't trying to breathe like me,
You're just trying to breathe like you.
Many teachers want you to sit.
They want your back straight,
And your chest open,
And your head held high,
And your tongue touching the roof of your mouth.
In 54 years of meditation practice,
I found that what's important is that you need to be comfortable.
So I don't care if you're sitting,
Or lying down,
Or standing.
The only thing that is important when you meditate is that you are comfortable and alert.
Now breathe.
Just breathe.
Normally I inhale and exhale through my nose.
But you know what's comfortable for you.
If you have trouble breathing out through your nose,
Then breathe out through your mouth.
Remember it has to be comfortable for you.
Now I want you to just breathe in,
And hold for a count of three,
And then breathe out.
And then start over again.
So let's try that together.
Breathe in,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
And breathe out.
Do it again.
Breathe in,
Hold it for a count of three,
And then breathe out.
Breathe in,
Hold it for a count of three,
And then breathe out.
One more time.
Breathe in,
Hold for a count of three,
And then breathe out.
Just continue to breathe.
And remember that meditation is learning to focus your mind.
You aren't trying to stop thinking.
You're not trying to put yourself into a coma.
When you do a body scan,
You don't have to sit there and be rigid,
Or lay there and be rigid.
You can roll your shoulders,
And shrug your shoulders,
And roll your neck,
And wiggle your arms until you get comfortable.
In the next session in this series,
I'm going to talk about the benefits of meditation and about the breath.
In all these years of meditating,
The key to meditating is breathing in and breathing out,
One breath at a time.
That's what puts you in the present moment,
One breath at a time.
So I hope this has been a beneficial and calming session.
And I also hope it's been educational.
I invite all of you to join our meditation group,
Meditation with Michael,
Here on Insight Timer.
And I want to thank each and every one of you for taking time to join me in this practice.
Stay tuned for part two.
Till next time.
